SMALL RANDOM TRANSFER TEST
We used a range of 4K to 1024K blocks in the Standard Random test in QuickBench as a predictor boot volume 'house keeping' performance and a simulation of an application that does multiple small random transfers.

INSIGHTSThe trend continues: SSDs are becoming more affordable as the performance increases and the technology advances. Though PCIe based flash is the hot new thing, there is still much demand for SATA based SSDs.

Though we used a PCIe adapter and external eSATA enclosure for most of the testing, we included the results for the 2010 Mac Pro's 3Gbps factory drive bay to demonstrate how that means of mounting the 850 EVO internally is not a good idea. A better way to have a fast, internal boot volume or data volume is to mount the 850 EVO on a PCIe board like the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 PCIe card we featured. Other such PCIe boards for SATA SSDs are listed in the WHERE TO BUY section of this article.

"EVO" versus "Pro"
In case you are curious, the 850 Pro has some advantages over the 850 EVO which justify the price premium: